Fermax

Fermax is a company that designs, manufactures and commercializes audio and video door entry systems and access control systems. The head office is located in the city of Valencia, Spain, where the company was founded by Fernando Maestre in 1949.

History

The company, which has always focused on intercoms, started out its activity marketing a radio-intercom for industrial and professional use. By 1963, their experience allowed them to launch a new intercom, this time designed for apartment blocks or buildings, in other words, an audio door entry system. It was the first to be designed exclusively in Spain and for years remained the only one.

The vertical residential structure adopted in Spanish developmentalism helped spread the audio entry system’s use as an item of mass consumption and facilitated the company’s development. In 1974, Fermax began producing its type T-1 interphone model, a wall-mounted receiver which held sway in the market until 1987, and went on to manufacture 4,500,000 units of what is considered one of the icons of Spanish industrial design. Fermax started manufacturing video door entry systems as of 1980 and subsequently went on to include other access control systems.

21st century

By 2011, the firm had offices in 15 countries and trade agreements for distribution of its products in 65 nations. Fermax products were installed in building projects all over the world, en Melbourne, Dubai, Bilbao (Spain) and Singapore. This international presence was acknowledged with an award from the IVEX in 2011. Their working model has also been recognised, among others, by the ESADE Brand Centre, being granted the Brand Centre prize in 2010 in the B2B category. For technological research, Fermax runs two laboratories, one for each production plant. In 2006, the company signed an agreement with the University of Valencia to create the Fermax Chair in Building Automation and became a member of ITACA, the Research Laboratory at the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

Design

Industrial design was a task entrusted almost exclusively to designer Ramón Benedito, who in 1992 received the National Design Award granted by the Ministry of Industry. Fermax design has been awarded several times:

  • 1976: Award for Industrial Design Promotion. Granted by the BCD Foundation
  • 1991: Prize for Innovation in Industrial Design. Awarded by IMPIVA (Valencian Regional Government) for the City panels
  • 2005: Intel Design Augusto Morello. Awarded by Intel Milan for the Loft monitor
  • 2007: ADI-FAD selection for the Halo outdoor panel and iLoft video entry monitor
  • 2013: ADI-FAD selection for the Smile video entry monitor

Fermax products have taken part in the following exhibitions:

  • 1998: Industrial design in Spain. Museo Reina Sofia Madrid
  • 2007: Two centuries of industrialisation in the Valencian Community. MuVIM. Valencia
  • 2007: ADI-FAD selection. Barcelona
  • 2008: Ibero-American Design Biennial I. DIMAD. El Matadero. Madrid
  • 2009: Suma y sigue del disseny a la Comunitat Valenciana. MuVIM. Valencia. Brussels. Madrid
  • 2010: Valencia Design and Innovation. Bancaja Foundation. Valencia
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See also

References
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